Jon Jones vs. Anderson Silva still doesn’t appear to be on the horizon

UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones was a witness to the record 10th successful UFC middleweight title defense by Anderson Silva Saturday night at UFC 148.

“The Spider” scored a second round stoppage victory over Chael Sonnen in the main event, completing a second triumph over one of his biggest rivals.

So, what could be in store for Silva? Well, you can count Jones off the list.

“I guess Anderson said he had no interest in fighting me at (Saturday’s) press conference,” wrote Jones on his Twitter account. “I feel the same way about him. Nothing but respect.”

Jones has trained with Silva, meeting up with the fellow champion in Brazil. For now, “Bones” is fully set on defending his crown for a fourth time against Dan Henderson at UFC 151 in September.

Many have been pushing for a bout between Silva and UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre for several years, but that seems well in the past now. GSP is continuing to work his way back from a torn ACL, and the welterweight division has become stacked at the top.

There is no point in matching any of the three — Jones, Silva, and GSP — against one another. It’s just stupid, from a business POV. Two champions, one has to lose — they would be cannibalising one guy’s potential for the sake of a one-time pay-day.

Yes, Jones versus Silva would be cool. But would it be better than Jones and Silva each defining periods of dominance in their divisions? I would argue no, it would not.

My own take is that these super-fights would just serve as a great example of why weight classes exist when you’re dealing with top-level athletes — nevermind the top of the top.

Silva / Jones is 50/50, IMO. I think Silva is smart enough — and talented — to close the distance on Jones’ wild striking. Jones has size, massive reach, and unorthodox striking that can’t be duplicated in training. Basically, it depends on who has the better night.

I think Silva handles GSP without much trouble. GSP has dialed back his striking ever since Serra proved he was mortal. Silva is clearly comfortable on his back against guys who aren’t known for brutal KO power. Silva’s speed and striking would eventually slow GSP down.

Again, I don’t see a need for these theories to be tested. MMA is young, we’re quickly retiring the old guard; we need a new guard to define legacies moving forward.

I have no interest in a JJ & Silva super fight…. To me it’s a mismatch at this stage of the game. Silva is too old to be fighting a young dominant LHW like Jones… It proves nothing. If they were at similar stages of their respective careers and had nothing else to challenge them selves with then sure BUT that’s not the case here… 2 different age ranges and 2 different stages of their careers. Silva still has the likes of Bisping, Belcher, Lombard, Stann or even Palhares to challenge himself with until he retires. JJ still has a few LHWs he can fight( not going to call them challenges) and then he can take a few mid card HWs on in catch weights before he moves up to HW.

GSP has no reason to super fight any body with all the contenders in his weightclass.

While i think that Silva would win a standup-battle vs. Jones, i hardly think Jones would want to test that out. He would storm Silva, try to put him on his back (and succeed), and unleash a barrage of nasty elbows and punches. And while Silva did a good job negating Sonnen’s gnp this time, which isnt that dangerous to begin with, i really see him in trouble on his back against a guy of the size, strength and skill as Jones.